Link between City Harvest Church and DUMC’s Dream Center

The City Harvest Church (CHC Singapore) congregation would dance in a trance and flick their tongues in and out like monitor lizards, making strange animal-like noises (see TR Emeritus article below)

Meanwhile, the following photos are said to be of a concert held in the Damansara Utama Methodist Church’s (DUMC) Dream Center in November 2007 where the City Harvest Church Malaysia gave a dance performance.

Tongues flicking like monitor lizards

“In early 2000, my daughter attended CHC services at Jalan Bukit Merah. She was so ‘hypnotized’ that she behaved strangely. To find out what was going on – and I believe it is still going on – I attended one of the services.

“What I witnessed shocked me. There was a pop-style band playing deafening ‘music’, more like a rock concert than a church service. The congregation would dance trance-like and pop their tongues in and out in quick succession, like monitor lizards, making strange animal-like noises.

“The band music would be interspersed with installments of a sermon, during which the pastor would cajole the congregation to donate generously, preaching that their donations would be rewarded/repaid exponentially by God. I saw the congregation members, mostly young men and women in their 20’s and 30’s, meekly pulling out of their pockets or wallets $10, $50, $100 dollar notes, and depositing them into the ‘donations’ box. I think that’s how CHC has amassed millions.

“In a matter of weeks attending the services, my daughter, who was then a uni student, claimed she had “spent” a couple of thousand dollars I gave her for living allowance. When questioned, she replied that it was not my money, that it was money that was given to me by God. Such was the influence the church had wrought on her mind!

“The strange thing is, that these young people, who seemingly looked educated, did not realise the fools they were made of. Apparently, they were so blinded by the ‘religious’ preaching that they fail or refuse to see realities. Not surprising then that some CHC members openly express strong belief in the integrity of their leaders.”

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(bold emphasis by this blogger)

Click to view unlisted YouTube video

The prosecution’s case

“… the Commissioner of Charities after their own investigations, as permitted by the Charities Act (Cap 37), revealed that financial irregularities amounting to at least $23 million had been discovered and eight church members, including the five charged, had been suspended.

“”The initial $24 million was allegedly siphoned off from the church’s building fund through sham bond investments in Sun Ho’s artist management firm, Xtron Productions, and a church member’s company, PT The First National Glassware.

“Prosecution revealed that another $26.6 million was later allegedly siphoned off from the church’s building fund to help Xtron and First National Glassware ‘redeem’ the sham bonds, covering the track of the initial $24 million.”

At its peak in 2009, the religious group, which by then had been registered as a charity, could count 33,000 followers. Ex-CHC members reveal pressure to donate “as much as we can” (source here)

How the Reverend raised money for church building fund

TR Emeritus was able to dig up some old video links of Kong Hee’s fund raising sermons but most of the videos have been taken down. However, one managed to survive (see above – ‘Sell your flat to give to God’).

“… and Chuang have to eat into their reserves literally, I mean, just the medical bills alone could really sink an ordinary person, but yet this year, Chuang is pledging $20,000, to the building fund, when he’s having a challenging time in his finances…”

“… rising? more then ever before, the salaried people, the temp job workers are giving, the unemployed, housewives are giving, full time NS men, retires, students 17yrs above, 16 yrs, unequal amounts but equal sacrifice, you give your best, you give until your heart is broken, you give until tears stream down your eyes … “

“… Nick and Connie sold their five room flat, and downgraded to a three room apartment just so that they are able to give $20,000, to the building fund, I mean, where you hear people like that, I mean, people who are willing to sell their house and downgrade to build God a great house, friends it’s a sacrifice…”

How the Reverend and Evangelista fashionista upgraded to RM23 million penthouse

How did the Kongs get from a S$127,000 HDB flat to a S$9.3 million Sentosa Cove penthouse?

Pastor Kong Hee and his family started with a five-room HDB flat in Tampines..

From there, the Kongs bought a Horizon Towers unit in River Valley. It had a private lift, two living rooms, four bedrooms. The flooring was marble, with a carpeted family area and a walk-in wardrobe which showed off the fashionista side of Ms Ho. It was done up in a mix of American classic and contemporary styles..

In 2010, they sold this apartment and moved into The Suites at Central on Devonshire. It was reportedly sold to them for $2.6 million. There was also a $28,000-a-month [rented] Hollywood Hills estate which Ms Ho rented while pursuing her career as a singer in the United States. She stayed there with her son, an assistant, a nanny and some relatives while going about her music career. She shuttled between the US and Singapore..

Today, the Kongs live in a luxury Sentosa Cove penthouse which is more than four times bigger than their Tampines flat and has an ocean view.

City Harvest Church Singapore — 2005 photo

Service later moved to Singapore Expo to accommodate the mammoth crowds

Many of them would rock the halls of the Singapore Expo where services were held, repeating the shouts of “Hallelujah!”

Demography:

Young people are targeted. About 46 percent of the congregation was below the age of 25 years, based on statistics provided by the church in 2010. The majority of the churchgoers are believed to be young professionals aged 25 to 35.

Church funds grew with the rise in membership.

Testimonies:

Most, if not all, of CHC’s followers are also very much attracted to the church’s charismatic founder, a man they said is “talented” and “inspiring” and who always “lives out what he preaches”.

“And as our senior pastor, he really practises what he preaches, and acted like a role model to all of us.”

“I joined the church initially because he (Rev. Kong) preached very well and knows how to create a program that appealed to youths.”

Groupthink:

“Those who consistently gave more would be applauded; those who didn’t give so much would be ‘strongly encouraged’ every week to ‘give as much as you can’.”

“many [CHC parishioners] maintained that their leaders are innocent and voiced confidence in their integrity.”

Social media blitzkrieg

Support for CHC founder Senior Pastor Kong Hee and the other 4 members are gaining momentum, garnering thousands of postings on Facebook, with heavyweight such as Head Pastor Khong of Faith Community Baptist Church (FCBC) weighing in (source: here).

Sigh…..church bashing again….how does it affect your life, Helen, or that of Ahmad Ibrahim ? Did the church try to convert you folks ? Leave people alone to do what they want to do, so long as they don’t break any laws. If they do, charge them in court with evidence. That’s democracy, no ?

Of course I know you can check IP addresses. If you have enough clout, you can know exactly who I am too. Just answer my question of how relevant bashing the church is to your objectives in life. I can tell you now I am not a Christian, but I am addicted to knowing your real agenda.

Lastly, why are you so deathly afraid of me or of Godfather ? Unable to debate with us ?

Church bashing? Lets set up a malaysian chapter of Boko Haram if DAPSTER can bring the looneys from the sinking island to make your wish come true…i am sure you’d like to feel more hardship like in church bashing besides downgrading your home and crying for a pimp charged in court.

This reminds me of Jim Jones, remember the mass suicides in Guyana in 1978 ? All cults share similar traits. They have this extraordinary ability to lock their followers in a state of perpetual hysteria that if you happen to visit the “church” for the first time, you would think that you’re actually visiting a mental institution. Phew !

Speaking of democracy, yes I do believe in democracy. I also believe in freedom, freedom from evangelism that is. Phew !

As for charging them in court, the Singapore authority is already doing it. Investigation is ongoing. I wonder when the Singapore police will come over to Malaysia to conduct further investigation. After all, both Churches are connected to one another. Phew !
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“Perpetual hysteria” … kinda like DAPsters, huh?

But, these traits (Cultisms) are not only the prerogative of the Christians, but a rather common among the followers of the Abrahamaic Faiths: Jews Christians and those who call themselves “Muslims” For they have gone astray from the true (for the Christians of all Denominations) teachings of Jesus (peace be upon Him), and for the so called “Muslims” who had invented themselves a new religion totally alien to what Prophet Muhammad taught – the Aqidah of Strict Islamic monotheism..

Both Jesus and Muhammad (may the peace and blessing of Allah be upon them both) taught the worship of the One TRUE God -Allah, but many have gone astray thru innovations and deviations of the later day followers.

Read what sincere and honest seekers of the One true God say about their journey searching and finding their Creator.

Agreed that there have been many perversions of original religious teaching and beliefs along the way but what’s happening here is an obvious case of commercialisation of religion and divinity for monetary gain.

Such cases aren’t confined to Christianity but also happen with some Buddhist & Hindu clergy & preachers as well, especially today when true spirituality has declined and the love of material wealth and possessions has increased.

The Buddha said that the spiritual significance of his teachings would gradually reduce and eventually disappear 5,000 years after his death by which time monks would live lives not much different from lay persons.

We can already see that happening today among some monks who have amassed great wealth when they are supposed to have renounced the worldly life to pursue and perfect a spiritual life, while others more blatantly exploit their devotees’ superstitions for material gain.

Pastors of churches such as this City Harvest Church are evangelists – i.e. lay preachers and there are many churches headed by lay preachers in the United States and they are coming out here.

Unlike priests and pastors of the more established institutional churches such as Roman Catholic, Orthodox and mainstream Protestant denominations which pay them a salary or allowance and provide them with accommodation and a supportive community, and which require observance of codes of practice and expectations of them them. While even this has not worked out perfectly, still it does apply some form of quality control and discipline upon their clergy.

On the other hand, lay preachers quite often head a one-man or one-family church so rely on donations for their livelihood and are answerable to no one, which allows for more opportunity for those bad apples to abuse the trust and faith of their congregation and run their church as a business.

There have been many cases in the U.S. where fabulously wealthy, celebrity lay preachers have been exposed, just like this recent case in Singapore.

There was a case in the 1980s where a Malaysian Buddhist monk went solo and set up his own place of worship in a house in Section 12, Petaling Jaya. In the early 1990s, he was exposed for having sexual relations with his female devotees, left the monkhood and ended up in the United States.

So such malpractices are not confined to Christianity, despite this recent high-profile case of this pastor in Singapore.

“In March David Oyedopo, reckoned to be Nigeria’s richest pastor by Forbes, a business magazine that puts his wealth at $150m, added an airline to his empire. Such money and fame bring political clout too.”

The pastor has – according to Forbes – a personal fortune of $150m (= RM476 million)!

This is what you may call modern-day church for young people – you adapt the religion according to time and need – young people want zest and entertainment, so you give them a church that they can dance and rock, not dead sermons about heaven and hell.

Next time, they want high ecstacy pleasures, you create a church for sensual escapism for these young people. True, modern-day churches are attracting young lost sheeps in postmodern-day societies, but they offer them sensual pleasures, not spiritual fulfillment.

Traditional christianity requires baptism to be a valid christian and to qualify for salvation. Wonder how many have gone through the proper ritual to qualify for the very teaching of christianity – salvation.

Imagine Paul of Tarsus dancing on stage and doing R n B and singing praises for the Lord inviting the young lost sheep to salvation. No wonder Cat Steven chose to embrace Islam that according to him, the serene sound of the azan, or Muslim call to prayer, that struck right into his conscience as he lay on bed dying of spiritual poverty. Liam Neeson also said the same. He was in Turkey filming and said that the azan was irritating at first, but eventually it got into his nerves such that he was contemplating becoming a Muslim.

If you have Jesus appearing as chinese Jesus in China with the mata sepet look, and appearing as black Jesus with groovy hair in Africa, wonder how many looks Jesus would have in the zeal to preach the christian message. The Jesuits went to China wearing and behaving like the mandarins but quickly found the chinese were not amused by their antics, and anyway, christianity never took root in china bcoz the chinese could not accept the fact that they are already sinful before anything else, and need mat salleh to bless holy water on them and forgive their sins, and as a result, lose their land to these mat salleh, like what happened to Hong Kong after having to accede to the British in 1997 for 100 years, thanks to British missionaries efforts.

The Muslims are rather strict about their religion, never compromising on anything. The Message, a movie about the life of Prophet Muhammad, and directed by Mustafa Akad, had to have the permission of the Muslim authorities, and this includes not showing the face of Prophet Muhammad and the four caliphs of Islam. Logically, who wants to see a movie where the main person in the movie doesn’t appear at all in the movie but this says a lot about Muslim carefulness in preserving the authenticity of their religion, and they should be credited for such attitude.

Imagine having a mosque with young Muslims dancing and rocking in the prayer hall, and you call this attracting young Muslims to the mosque.

>>Logically, who wants to see a movie where the main person in the movie doesn’t appear at all in the movie but this says a lot about Muslim carefulness in preserving the authenticity of their religion, and they should be credited for such attitude.

which is why the muslim world is split into at least 3 sects today; sunni, shia, & ahmadiyyah. each with slightly different ideas of faith & violent conflicts between them

thats the thing with religions, with politics and money tossed into the mix, the faith strays from the original path

Muslims are not allowed to draw the picture of Prophet Muhammad SAW to avoid him unwittingly be worshipped. This is the gravest sin in Islam. Prophet Muhammad SAW is highly regarded BUT HE LIKE ALL OF US WAS A MERE MORTAL.

So, if anyone say in Saudi arabia wants an early death, try draw the face of Prophet . The reaction by Saudi authority will be assured be very swift.

They may tolerate stinging criticism against Saudi royals but very firm on this matter.

Prophet Muhammad disallowing music? As far as my knowledge of Islam is concerned, and very little I must admit, the Prophet only disallowed music if and when it tends to arouse your carnal passions and degrades your human virtues, such as lustful lyrics and erotic melodies, and also in occasions where one indulges in intoxicants and improper gender socialization such that the music can steer you away from your stable state of mind and emotions.

Some people, and I am aware of this, tend to quote sources about the total banning of music in Islam, but I notice that this is not a universal and standard view of the Muslims in general otherwise the nasyid industry today would not have grown into a lucrative trade and Muslims would be listening to nothing else but gossips and backbitings in place of educational songs and soothing tunes that place your heart in remembrance of God.

The Muslims broken up into 3 sects? and 3 sects only? Well, you should look at the Christians. Besides the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic, Christian churches have sprout by the thousands and some with their own Bible as well.

Iranians, they are Shiah, the majority of them, when they come to Malaysia, they pray at the Malaysian mosques, such as the National Mosque and the Putrajaya mosque, and Malaysians are Sunnis.

Try asking City Harvest Church members not baptized in a Catholic Church and go for Sunday worship, and see if the priest is going to administer the eucharist for them if the priest knows he is not a Catholic. Salvation in Christianity determined by which church one belongs? Preaching christianity is not so easy after all, since salvation depends on which church one belongs to.

Well, my little observation of the two religions, hopefully I have not said anything to the contrary based on my scant knowledge.

The stele is thought to have been buried in 845, during a campaign of anti-Buddhist persecution, which also affected the Nestorians.[10]

The stele was unearthed in the late Ming Dynasty (between 1623 and 1625) beside Chongren Temple (崇仁寺).[11] According to the account by the Jesuit Alvaro Semedo, the workers who found the stele immediately reported the find to the governor, who soon visited the monument, and had it installed on a pedestal, under a protective roof, requesting the nearby Buddhist monastery to care for it.[12] The newly discovered stele attracted attention of local intellectuals. It was Zhang Gengyou (Wade-Giles: Chang Keng-yu) who first identified the text as Christian in content. Zhang, who had been aware of Christianity through Matteo Ricci, and who himself may have been Christian, sent a copy of the stele’s Chinese text to his Christian friend, Leon Li Zhizao in Hangzhou, who in his turn published the text and told about it to the locally based Jesuits.[12]

Alvaro Semedo was the first European to visit the stele (some time between 1625 and 1628).[13] Nicolas Trigault’s Latin translation of the monument’s inscription soon made its way in Europe, and was apparently first published in a French translation, in 1628. Portuguese and Italian translations, and a Latin re-translation, were soon published as well. Semedo’s account of the monument’s discovery was published in 1641, in his Imperio de la China.[14]

Early Jesuits attempted to claim that the stele was erected by a historical community of Roman Catholics in China and called Nestorianism a heresy and claimed that it was Catholics who first brought Christianity to China, but later historians and writers admitted that it was indeed Nestorian, not Catholic.[15]

Hope Pastor Kong Hee get his release from the court. Then let him continue on deceiving his church members for their money and money. Pastor Kong Hee is God’s judgement on the money minded Christians in Singapore